ABC's the NOTE mentioned around the time of the DNC convention that the Bush/Cheney ticket will have three surprises coming this fall. What will they be? How evil? How sneaky? How true?
I started to wonder if they would project manage the surprises with a release date in early September, early October and then late October. Now, don't get me wrong, I like Kerry a lot, but I think Bush and his buddy Karl Rove are much more slick in the way of the people persuasion. I'm sure there's one leak from last time around they would have like to have stopped. Though, I'm not sure there's much they could have leaked about Al Gore that would have made a difference.
Heaven only knows what effect the release of W's drunk driving record had when it was leaked on the Friday before the election. Did that cost him Iowa, Minnesota or Wisconsin? Could he have cleaned up on electoral college AND the popular vote? I don't really know if a few undecideds in each town, within each county would have made those swing states change from blue to red. I do know that if there's anything Bush/Cheney/Rove 2004 can do to inflict a similar pain on Kerry/Edwards, it will be done.
There have been many rumors and stories so far. What do you think? What is the best way to tip the scales? Can you accurately predict the surprises of the fall? To join the competition, all you gotta do is send me a message with your name, along with your five surprises, and the clincher...they gotta be in order. To get the most points, make sure the things you think will definitely happen are listed to make you the most points.
Here are some rules and guide lines that I'm borrowing from Gorillamask.net's Death Pool 2004 competition.
1. No entries accepted after August 25th.
2. Include your full name with your entry.
3. Rank your surprises 1-5.
4. Keep the surprises clear and concise.
5. Try to be original, but use any sources you may have access to
6. Personally influencing any of these leaks will be nearly impossible to determine, so do you best to win (and at the same time, try not to hurt KE'04 too much)
7. The contest runs from August 26th until a president is chosen (most likely November 2nd - right?)
8. Unlike a death pool, I need sources to prove your surprise has been leaked, announced, published, made public. Send me links to major news sites.
9. Finally, these leaks and surprises do not have to be solely against the Kerry/Edwards ticket. Changes to the ticket (v.p. slot openings? and new candidates names?), WMD, Osama himself, all are up for grabs. Choose your poison, there's always a chance you can win by picking something that just happens natually (ahem...I mean happens without the work and consent of BC04).
Scoring:
Five points will be awarded if your #1 surprise happens. Four points if your #2 surprise happens. All the way down to 1 point for your #5 surprise. As Ryan (at GorillaMask.net) explains, this prevents the inevitable tie by making scoring more diverse. Use some strategy, it doesn't matter exactly when your surprise is leaked, as long as it is leaked. I'll also give a bonus of five points if your surprise is leaked after you submit, but before August 25th - so the earlier you submit, the better for you.
In the event that this contest itself makes news, all bets are off. A public listing of your choices becoming new worthy means everyone elses choices have become news too. Let's wait and see what the media has to say.
Send me your entries at davidmakar@hotmail.com with the subject BUSH EVIL PLAN 2004!
I got back last night from my trip to Florida. I left last Tuesday morning from Ithaca, drove to Binghamton for a meeting and then to Blackstone, Massachusetts (near Providence, RI) to my sister's and then grandmother's house. Wednesday my sister dropped my grandmother (Baba or Babca) off at T.F. Green Airport in Warwick, Rhode Island (Providence Airport) and we traveled on an 8:30am flight to Fort Myers. It was probably about my 100th or 200th flight (who keeps track?) and it was my grandmother's first time on an airplane (she's 86!).